


Conviction

by Ilikered



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/M, I don't know if this is classified as fwb, hints of mitsucho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:13:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28814706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ilikered/pseuds/Ilikered
Summary: After Boruto does the unforgivable, Sarada breaks off their complicated friendship in anger. But as the past that haunted them both came back with vengeance, they are forced to face their demons together in hopes of finishing what should have been done a long time ago, putting their feelings and thoughts on the line as team 7 embarks on their mission.
Relationships: Uchiha Sarada/Uzumaki Boruto
Comments: 7
Kudos: 51





	1. How it ended

**Author's Note:**

> These characters and the world they are set in belong to the Naruto manga created by Masashi Kishimoto.

_ Sarada Uchiha was never the type to rush into things, Boruto knew that ever since they were four, but he never knew that included sexual matters till much later.  _

_ In the two months they have been sleeping together, the blond man found out that she usually takes her time, as if getting the fullest out of every moment, savoring it, finding joy in the way she had him squirm even if she had to bear with her own raging desire. _

_ He knew her by now in a way no one else does, knew her body as well as she knew his, the way her fingers will tighten in his hair when things got heated, her faint tremble when he’d whisper something in her ear, moving her head so he could better access that one spot on her neck that made her lose it and her dark eyes get clouded with pure lust, he prided himself for being the only one to see her like that even if they weren’t serious about anything. _

_ Which is why he was left completely baffled by the sheer contrast of Sarada’s usual demeanour and now, where instead of her slow passionate kissing her lips were rapidly moving against his own, her hands grappling at the end of his shirt to take it off as his own hands were still on her waist from his attempt to catch her when she lunged at him as soon as he opened his bedroom window. _

_ Boruto didn’t know what to do, he couldn’t deny that he was liking the roughness and the urgency, the bulge in his pants proving that. _

_ But this didn’t feel right. _

_ The faint but familiar taste of alcohol on her tongue didn’t help his uneasiness either as he removed his hands from her waist and stopped kissing back, finding that simply pushing her off was crude. _

_ Luckily for him he didn’t have to push her off as after a moment she pulled back and met his blue orbs with her own red eyes, shining with pure rage. _

_ ‘’What?’’ she asked, looking down for a second to see that he indeed was turned on. _

_ ‘’Well you just pounced on me, not that I don’t like it but it’s kind of unusual.’’ he answered, his hands going to her shoulders as his eyes looked her over. _

_ She seemed fine other than the rigid body language. _

_ Red orbs stared at him for what seemed forever before they turned back to black, looking downwards towards the floor as she took a step away from him, his hands still tight on her shoulders. _

_ ‘’I’m sorry…that was dumb.’’ she admitted, looking completely calm and composed. But Boruto learned to see behind that fake ANBU taught composure as she still couldn’t conceal the faint tremble of her lip that signaled to Boruto that she was upset. _

_ ‘’You’re upset.’’ he stated, continuing after a moment when he didn’t get an answer, ‘’ and atleast close the window behind you if you wanted to fuck me.’’ _

_ Sarada’s head shot up and to the side to see that indeed the window was open. _

_ Boruto walked over and closed it, his hand holding sarada’s arm gently, pulling her towards the bed, sitting in the middle of his childhood room. _

_ ‘’So are you going to tell me what’s up?’’ The blond man asked, taking a seat next to his teammate, who just sighed, hand rubbing at her eyes, Boruto suspected to hide tears, before she put her glasses back on and spoke. _

_ ‘’I just found out stuff about my clan, about dad.’’ _

_ ‘’Stuff like what?’’ he inquired. _

_ ‘’Stuff like what the grave misfortune that ended them was, about how dad was a very dangerous and wanted criminal, about how he and mom tried to kill each other and…’’ Sarada trailed off at that moment, expression of pure agony crossing on her face before she shook her head. _

_ That the village was the reason I have no clan. She thought, but she couldn’t voice that thought, cause it sounded too absurd, too far from reality. _

_ ‘’I can’t say it.’’ _

_ Boruto just looked at the woman in front of him, his hand instinctively grabbing hers and holding it. For a moment he thought she’d pull away, that was the basis of their relationship, friends who occasionally fuck, not hold hands, but instead she held his hand tightly, her fingers interlocking with his. _

_ ‘’Did your dad tell you?’’ _

_ ‘’No, I snuck into the hokage library, I tried asking dad but he wouldn’t tell me, even after I told him what happened during our last mission.’’ _

_ Boruto’s eyes instinctively flew to the blue and black bruise at the side of Sarada’s face, where a samurai struck her unexpectedly in the middle of their mission debrief from their captain yesterday. For reasons Boruto still cannot comprehend she didn’t move out of the way. _

_ ‘’I’m sorry you had to find out that way.’’ Boruto said, scooting closer towards the black haired woman sitting beside him. _

_ ‘’I just don’t know what to think.’’ she confided, eyes downcast. _

_ ‘’Maybe you should take some time to think about it Sarada, maybe look at it from your father’s point of view, from the village elders point of view and the third hokage’s, I’m not saying it was right, but it might help.’’ _

_ ‘’Yeah.’’ Sarada responded half heartedly, appearing lost in thought for a couple of minutes, Boruto staying quiet, thinking if he should ask her if she wanted some tea or something sweet to take her mind off of the shock she’s still processing. _

_ He was about to ask her when she suddenly stiffened, blazing red eyes glaring daggers at him, throwing his hand away and standing up. _

_ ‘’I didn’t tell you about the village’s part in all of this.’’ she stated, rage reappearing in her eyes. _

_ Fuck. Boruto thought.  
_

_ Boruto stayed quiet for a moment, not knowing how to explain himself, which prompted Sarada to speak up again. _

_ ‘’How did you know?’’ she asked, her blazing eyes examining his every twitch. _

_ It was then that he stopped feeling like he was with his childhood friend and teammate, instead, standing before him is the notorious Sarada Uchiha of the sharingan, captain of the ANBU troop of zero failures, staring him down like he was some lowly criminal she was interrogating. _

_ ‘’Your Dad told me during my training, when we passed through the shrine where he fought his brother.’’ Boruto admitted, eyes not daring to move away from Sarada’s, which barely widened at the revelation. _

_ ‘’You know the entire time you were in the village after your training, a full year...knowing I was looking everywhere I could to get any crumbs of info about it.’’ Sarada said, more to herself than to him as the ANBU facade started to crumble and he could see the pain in her eyes. _

_ ‘’Sarada I-’’ he said standing up but he was suddenly yanked down by his collar so he was face to face with her, mere inches separating them. _

_ ‘’Mom, Dad, the fucking Hokages all hid it from me! but you?’’ she said, betrayal dripping from every syllable. _

_ ‘’I’m sorry, your father wanted to tell you himself when the time is right, made me promise not to tel-’’ _

_ ‘’We’re fucking teammates! Nothing is kept secret!’’ _

_ ‘’Sarada you know this is more complicated than that.’’ he tried to defend, but her grip was only getting tighter. _

_ ‘’I trusted you enough to sleep with you for fuck’s sake! I would have never imagined that you’d keep something from me, let alone something like this, something you knew I had a right to know!.’’ _

_ Boruto didn’t know what to say, he just stayed quiet, deciding that talking will only make this worse. A few moments passed before Sarada threw him back onto the bed, turning away from him and heading to the window. _

_ ‘’Wait Sarada!’’ Boruto screamed, not wanting to let her leave this upset with him. _

_ ‘’We’re over.’’ _

_ And those were the last words he heard before the door shut. _


	2. Mission accepted

The all too familiar feeling of pure despair tore through heart the moment she read their names on her mission scroll. 

_ Following up on a previous mission regarding Tensa and Tenka Chikyu, you are demanded to go to the hokage’s office the next morning for debriefing in the company of two chunin or higher ranked shinobi of your choosing. _

Instinctively, her arms reached towards the table, grabbing what’s left of the bottle of alcohol ChoCho brought earlier for their weekly hangout.

Sarada was about to pour herself a glass to try and lessen the mounting feeling of desperation in her gut before she groaned, giving the opened bottle a glance before throwing it to the side, too distraught to think of the glass shards she’s going to have to clean up later.

_ Alcohol is not a suitable coping mechanism Sarada. _

Her mother’s voice echoed in her head, having got that speech after her mother caught her drinking after one very dreadful night.

She didn’t know how to cope with this though,as her brain played back the memories of _ that _ cursed mission, she needed something to drown the vomit in her throat.

_ You failed us... _

As the words of their then client repeated in her head, Sarada decided to go out for a walk as she grabbed the scroll and headed out.

.

.

.

When he heard the faint knock on his window he thought he was dreaming, especially since only one person knocked using that pattern, a super secret pattern they came up with when they were kids to alert the other to come meet them at the door, which turned into a window as they learned how to climb walls.

He was dozing off again, memories of their adventures as kids floating in his mind when he heard his name being said, in that low but firm tone he knew all too well.

‘’Sarada?’’ he muttered, opening his eyes to see that indeed his childhood friend is standing a couple of steps beside his bed, her eyes boring holes into him as he tried his best to sharpen up, sitting upright into his bed and running his hand through his hair.

This wasn’t the first time he found Sarada in his room in the middle of the night, but this was the first time since the day they fought.

‘’We have a mission.’’ she muttered, taking a seat on his computer chair, turning the lights on before she sat down.

‘’I didn’t get a scroll.’’

‘’I did, I was asked to assemble a team of three before my meeting with the hokage.’’ she replied, reaching into her pouch and grabbing the scroll, throwing it towards the still sleepy eyed blonde man.

Boruto gave the girl a puzzled look, confused that she picked to be his teammate when she was avoiding him for a year now except on the missions where they were assigned together.

But all confusion and sleepiness faded from his face as he read the scroll.

It was at times like this he wished he still lived with his parents, so he could storm into his dad’s office and ask what was the deal.

_ ‘’ _ What could this be about?’’ he asked, faint trembling in his voice he was sure she didn’t miss no matter how hard he tried to conceal it.

‘’I don’t know, the Chikyu siblings are both dead.’’

Boruto and Sarada both stayed silent, both speechless, confused, and both feeling the same despair they felt on that day. To think that fifteen months after it, those feelings didn’t lessen. It was the first time they truly and utterly failed, that there was no comeback, no way to win back the mission because they were dead, murdered in the most heinous way possible.

That day, a piece of both of them died with the brothers.

A sigh from the black haired woman broke the silence, as she removed her glasses and rubbed at her eyes tierdly. It was then that Boruto noticed the faint blush on her face.

_ We were drunk that night too…  _ Boruto found himself thinking before he caught himself, reminding himself that he swore never to think of her like that again.

‘’Should I pick a third teammate?’’ Sarada said, and Boruto was thankful she interrupted his mental fight.

‘’I don’t know, you’re the captain.’’

‘’I know baka,’’ she started, that familiar edge to her voice ringing in his ears, ‘’but we were alone that time and we failed.’’

A few seconds passed before Boruto spoke up.

‘’Mitsuki got back from his parent two days ago.’’

Sarada mulled it over a bit, weighing whether to recruit Mitsuki or one of her old ANBU teammates. A minute passed before Sarada decided that familiarity between Mitsuki and Boruto would be beneficial.

‘’I’ll talk to Mitsuki, meet us in the Hokage’s office at 6 sharp.’’ she said, heading towards the window, she got it half open when Boruto called out her name.

Sarada turned around to look at him as his hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder, the fact that she didn’t immediately shrug him off was enough to alert Boruto that she wasn’t okay.

‘’Are you okay?’’

Their eyes met, and that thing happened where they felt like they were alone in the world,at a point frozen in time.

‘’Are you?’’

With that she turned around again and jumped out, her knuckles turning white from the grip and her sharingan flaring on for a second as Boruto looked on at the Uchiha crest on her back.

.

.

.

He was used to Mitsuki’s eccentric attitude towards most things, finding it funny how he was oblivious all the time, and now is no exception.

‘’What is Mikazuki doing here?’’ The blond man asked as soon as he saw his white haired teammate enter the hokage building, black and white cat held gently in his arms.

‘’Sarada mentioned that she missed him, so I brought him along.’’ he explained the manner of factly.

Boruto simply nodded, not bothering to hide his amused smile, but it soon faded as Sarada walked into the building, wearing her usual red and a black jacket that boldly showed her clan’s crest.

‘’Hey.’’ she greeted, eyes immediately flying over to the cat in Mitsuki’s arms, said boy got closer to Sarada, extending the cat towards her face, causing her to take a step back.

‘’When I said I missed him I meant that i’d see him after the mission Mitsuki.’’ she complained, but her hand gently petted the purring creature anyways.

Boruto stared at her, loving the way she looked at the cat in such a gentle manner. 

She was always like this, gentle and kind with everyone who needed it, even when he was a brat in their childhood, she was there when he fought his father and wanted to hide or vent.

‘’You can get in now.’’

Shikamaru’s lazy voice interrupted his inner ramblings as they all walked forwards towards the opened hokage’s office, Shikamaru not even tossing the cat a second glance, used to seeing weird stuff.

The sight of his father hunched over scrolls and paperwork greeted them as they walked in and shikamaru closed the door behind them. A couple of seconds passed before Boruto scoffed lightly in annoyance, catching his father’s attention finally.

‘’Sorry guys, I’m just finishing up your entrance permit to the village of diamonds, since we have made a diplomatic agreement a while ago I can issue permits to Konoha shinobi to go there.’’ the older blond man said, a somber look grazing his face for a millisecond after he finished his sentence before his usual smile appeared.

But Boruto and Sarada noticed that look, both of them tensing while Mitsuki’s gaze travelled to them, recalling what Sarada told him about her and Boruto’s last mission there a couple of hours ago.

‘’Why is their a cat in my office?’’ Naruto asked, interrupting the team’s contemplation.

Mitsuki just smiled while Sarada chuckled nervously, not knowing what to say.

‘’The mission?’’ Boruto subtly reminded, already getting bored.

‘’Yes the mission, Sarada, as captain of the previous escort mission to the village of diamonds, you are assigned to deliver this item to the queen of the land.’’ Naruto stated, handing Sarada a tiny red diamond attached to a string necklace.

She could recognize that necklace anywhere, it was the necklace Tenka wore.

‘’Where did you find this? And what’s so important about this necklace?’’ Sarada quietly asked, rolling the diamond in her hand, remembering clearly that she complimented the necklace to it’s holder before.

‘’A troop of Anbu found it near the borders of the land of lightning, it was with a group of week mercenaries, would have assumed it was just a simple robbery but during interrogation they said that someone tasked them for looking for it in the water valleys surrounding the land in exchange for a hefty sum of money, so we asked the queen of the village of diamonds about it,the expert she sent over declared that this jewel belonged to the previous heir of the throne, the one you were tasked with transporting during your last mission to the village of diamonds, he also said that the diamond can be used to unlock any seal of any kind.’’

‘’Even prison seals and chakra seals?’’ Mitsuki asked, knowing from his parent how hard the shinobi make those seals hard to unlock, such seals being able to seal away dojutsu as strong as the rinnegan.

Naruto nodded, resting his head on his hands before speaking.

‘’You can decline, I just thought that this is a mission you would like to do, I was sure you’ll recruit Boruto and Mitsuki too.’’

The three jonin remained quiet, their minds whirring with all the information they just received until Naruto broke the silence again.

‘’This is an S rank mission under the command of Sarada, do you accept?’’ 

Sarada tossed a look at Mitsuki, who gave a reassuring smile before she turned her gaze towards Boruto and the message was clear.

_ We have a duty to complete. _

‘’Mission accepted Hokage-sama.’’ Sarada declared.


	3. Confliction

It’s a three days journey to the land of lightning, where the village hidden in the jems resides, said village being renowned with it’s gem caves,which were later used in the making of handmade jewelry, sought after from as far as the land of earth.

‘’Technology mixed with the ninja arts is truly fascinating.’’ Mitsuki remarked, referring to the jewel they were tasked to deliver, which was currently hidden in Sarada’s pouch.

Mitsuki had suggested that it would be safer for her to wear it, but it didn’t feel right to do so to neither Boruto nor Sarada.

‘’And annoying.’’ Boruto replied, kicking a stone in his way lightly, still a bit pissed off that Sarada chose to take the land route rather than the shorter water route.

_ Makes us defenseless my ass, we can take anything. _ Boruto thought, not daring to voice that statement.

He was confused by Sarada’s attitude, she’s at least acknowledging his presence in contrast to before, but not in the way he liked. Only talking to him when prodded and in a very professional way, as if he was one of her ANBU soldiers in the team, not her childhood friend and teammate.

‘’Would you mind resting in a cave tonight? No use tiring ourselves to get to an inn when we have to get up early anyways.’’Sarada asked, looking around as if expecting to find something in the thick foliage that surrounded the outskirts of the land of fire.

‘’That a question or a statement?’’ 

The words were out of his mouth before he really thought them through, but he was always transparent with his emotions, and he couldn’t hide his bitterness over being treated like this any longer, not when his fault was from clear and good intentions. 

Besides, he knew exactly why Sarada did not want to go to that particular inn in the area.

Sarada was about to respond with what he was sure was a sharp putting down, but Mitsuki interrupted.

‘’A cave would be better, I need to stock some herbs for some reserve antidotes.’’

‘’Hm.’’

Sarada then led the way to a cave he didn’t remember finding in their last mission towards the area, its entrance barely visible to the eye thanks to chunks of rock and trees covering the entrance, he wondered how she found it in the first place.

But as always she could read his mind.

‘’My ANBUteammate, an Inuzuka, found this place for us on our way from a mission , it was pouring back then so it was easy for him to find where the animals were hiding.’’ Sarada said, to no one in particular as she laid down her bag on the floor of the cave, reaching into it and pulling out three bento boxes.

She handed one to Mitsuki, who only ate as a formality, and then extended her hand towards Boruto.

The thought of declining ran through his mind, but he wasn’t mean, besides, the grumbles emitting from his stomach made it clear that he needed that bento. Trying at the same time not to delude himself that she did this for him, she just wanted him to be at his full capacity and of course she knew he wouldn’t pack one himself.

So he reached out to take the bento, noticing that Sarada is looking at him, probably wondering why he’s so slow, when his hand lightly grazed hers before pulling away.

Boruto wondered if she felt it too, that electric tension that flew in the air the second they touched. 

He looked up from the bento towards her, finding the familiar warm black eyes staring back at him, the same eyes he loved to see first thing in the morning. But there was something different this time as her black eyes, albeit still warm, exhibit a sense of guardedness he never associated with Sarada till a year ago.

‘’I’ll take first watch.’’ he finally broke the silence, jumping out of the cave and out of sight as Sarada sighed, before grabbing her own bento.

‘’Do you still not trust him?’’ Mitsuki asked suddenly, startling Sarada.

‘’What?’’ she asked, almost choking on her piece of meat at the abruptness of the question.

_ Eight years on a team and he still surprises me… _

‘’Do you still not tru-?’’

‘’I heard you! It was just too abrupt shannaro!’’ she exclaimed, putting the half eaten bento box at her side.

She knew Mitsuki knew, there was no way Boruto wouldn’t tell him,Mitsuki was bound to inquire about their distance sooner or later, especially since they were particularly close for a while before she broke it off, she was sure though that Boruto didn’t tell him of the exact nature of their relationship back then. So after a deep breath she answered.

‘’I do with the mission.’’

‘’You wouldn’t have picked him to come if it weren’t the case, I meant outside the mission.’’ Mitsuki clarified.

‘’I don’t know.’’ Sarada said, exasperated herself over her vague response, but she didn’t know what else to say because that was the truth.

Mitsuki just stayed quiet for a few seconds before shooting Sarada with his usual unnerving smile.

‘’You should rest, chocho stayed late at your place yesterday before you were notified of the mission right?’’

Sarada nodded, taking her sleeping bag from her backpack before she suddenly froze.

‘’How did you know she was at my place yesterday night?’’

‘’She told me.’’ he answered, as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

‘’Huh.’’ Sarada huffed, giving Mitsuki a suspicious look he wasn’t quite sure what it meant.

Mitsuki stayed in the cave until Sarada fell asleep before he jumped out towards Boruto.

.

.

.

Boruto laid his back against the tree, sitting on a branch so he could see in front of him for more distance.

He stayed there for who knew how long, listening to the sound of the rustling leaves before he detected a presence. His hand instinctively landed on the hilt of his sword, before he registered that the presence was the all too familiar Mitsuki, who is now standing before him.

‘’You should be asleep.’’ Boruto said, watching the white haired man take a seat on the branch, his feet dangling off the side.

‘’You should have taken second shift, Sarada mentioned she woke you up at 4 in the morning.’’

‘’Just didn’t feel sleepy.’’

‘’You wanted to evade awkwardness.’’ 

Boruto let the back of his head hit the tree lightly in resignation, and that was enough for Mitsuki to confirm that indeed it was to evade Sarada.

The snake eyed boy waited patiently, knowing that with Boruto, he doesn’t have to ask, he’ll just speak by himself.And indeed, after a couple of minutes, he spoke.

‘’Do I deserve this?’’

He asked, Mitsuki wasn’t sure if he was asking him or himself, but after a few seconds passed he spoke he replied.

‘’Sarada told me once that people judge each other’s faults in proportion to how close they are, also by their own personal experience, such what might be a small mistake for me might be a big fault to her.’’ he said, as if reciting a paragraph from a book.

Boruto didn’t answer though,his mind running through what Mitsuki said, recalling that Sarada’s been complaining to him her entire life that her parents kept secrets from her.

_ And then I did the same. _ Boruto thought, his fists clenching from anger, anger at not knowing what was the right thing to do, still being confused what he should have done, still not sure if what he did was the wrong thing in the first place.

But his thoughts were soon broken as he sensed another presence, this time he was sure they weren’t friendly as a kunai landed where his head was resting.

‘’There are four of them.’’ Mitsuki said before jumping off, Boruto followed him to the ground, where the assailants were.

‘’Not even attempting to be stealthy.’’ Boruto remarked, gripping his kunai even tighter, while his blue eyes roamed over their attackers.

They were dressed in normal shinobi attire, nothing in their looks deserved any attention except for the fact that they both had identical red hair.

‘’Give us the jewel.’’ one of them ordered.

‘’Make us.’’ Boruto challenged, creating two shadow clones, bolting towards them as Mitsuki followed.

He and his clones were locked into a taijutsu battle until all three of the men they were fighting sunk into the ground, weird marks appearing in their place.

‘’Boruto!’’ He heard Mitsuki’s warning as he turned around just in time to prevent a kunai from finding its place in his chest.

‘’Lightning release Bullet!’’ Boruto screamed as he launched his attack at his attacker, knocking him out before assisting his shadow clone, fighting two against one.

When the attacker finally fell from the pressure, Boruto looked around to see that Mitsuki had already handled the other two with the help of his remaining shadow clone.

‘’What the hell was that about?’’ Boruto asked, his eyes examining the seals on the ground. But his focus was soon interrupted when a man crashed through the entrance of the cave, landing unconscious next to the two konoha jonin’s feet.

Half a second later Sarada got out, her eyes landing on the men her teammates defeated. 

‘’We’ve got a problem.’’ she said, Mitsuki nodding while Boruto gave her a confused stare. Sarada responded by gesturing towards the back and arm sleeves of the men, which displayed the signature Uzumaki clan symbol.

  
  
  
  



	4. I missed you

After taking the unconscious men to the nearest village and handing them to the authorities, it was already morning so the team of jonin decided to talk about the recent progression while having breakfast.

‘’The Uzumaki clan were sealing experts.’’ Boruto told his teammates, figure hunched over in a sad pose, obviously not pleased to know that his clansmen are their enemy.

Especially since he didn’t even know he had clansmen other than his family, except for that weird lady that used to be on his master’s team.

‘’It makes sense why they would want this diamond then.’’ Mitsuki added, not remarking on the obvious tension between his two teammates, one that is different than before. As if something clouded both of their minds.

But as always, they didn’t leave him wondering for long.

‘’Back then, some of them had red hair too,’’ Sarada said, referring to their latest mission pertaining to the village of diamonds,‘’We didn’t notice it back then, the clan symbols, only Konoha shinobi wear them outside the clan, and they were most definitely not Konoha shinobi.’’ 

Boruto stood up abruptly from his chair, knocking his tea cup onto the floor before storming off.

Mitsuki stared at Sarada then, as if asking her what happened.

But the woman just stared at the blond man’s back until he disappeared into the forest engulfing the village they are in, before standing up herself.

‘’You never got to stocking up on medicinal herbs?’’ Sarada said, as if assigning him his duty as Mitsuki simply shook his head, standing up himself.

‘’Then we’ll meet at the gate in an hour.’’ with those words she ran in the way Boruto headed, no doubt in Mitsuki’s mind that she knew exactly what was going on through his head.

.

.

.

After a bit of looking around, Sarada spotted her teammate sitting next to a big boulder, head buried in his hands, a couple of trees next to him broken and smashed.

She quietly approached, sitting in front of him and extending her hand towards him, lightly touching his knee to get him to look at her.

As expected he did, blue meeting black and that familiar understanding sparked between them.

‘’We messed up, I though that we had apprehended the ones responsible for it.’’ Boruto admitted.

‘’We did, we thought it was a gang out to kill the heirs to the throne to destabilize the country and steal their diamonds, that’s what it seemed like back then at least, not...a fight to get holds on a weapon.’’ she stated, her hand gripping the necklace in her pouch tightly.

Sarada was barely able to speak, all the emotion from that mission coming flooding back, the sight of Tenka’s dead body flashing through her mind, the sound of a blade meeting skin and a heart wrenching agonized scream filled her head.

From the expression on Boruto’s face, she knew he was feeling it too.

‘’We couldn’t have known Boruto.’’

‘’That mission was an utter disaster.’’

‘’It was,’’

‘’But we have a duty from back then to accomplish.’’ Sarada continued, eyes letting go of their sad gleam and being replaced by the burning fire Boruto was used to.

It took him a couple of seconds to respond, his fists clenching tightly before his gaze lifted to meet Sarada’s.

‘’For Tenka and Tensa.’’ 

‘’For Tenka and Tensa.’’ Sarada repeated as if repeating a mantra, because at this moment, it is even much more than that, it is more than a mission or a duty, more than a simple goal.

It was a matter that concerned their wills, and that was something they vowed to never fail at demonstrating, and now is a perfect opportunity.

‘’We should head back, Mitsuki should be waiting for us to decide the next course of action.’’ Sarada said, standing up and padding down her clothes as did the same.

She was about to start walking when Boruto called for her so she turned back around.

‘’I really missed you.’’ he said, before continuing on walking in front of her, as if knowing that he will not get an answer.

‘’I missed you too.’’ he heard from behind him, and he was thankful she couldn’t see the pleased expression on his face, because that was confirmation that he could indeed not just fix the mission, but also fix his relationship with Sarada, be at as friends or as something else.

.

.

.

‘’Uzumaki clan members are experts at sealing jutsu, they also exhibit a superior life force, other than that everything about them has been kept secret.’’ Sarada told her teammates as they huddled closer to the camp fire they built.

They decided that they have to get to the diamond village as fast as they could, deliver the diamond, where it would be put into a special chakra suppressing room where no one can attain it using ninja techniques, then go after the gang.

Which is why they took turns, each sleeping for about an hour before they embarked again on their trip, running at full speed towards the village, which should cut their trip to a one day distance.

But of course nothing goes smoothly with team 7, as they stumbled upon a lot of sealed traps, they managed to block or dodge most of them along the way, that was until Sarada got a kunai stuck in her arm after one seal released a nin who pinned her down with his hand striking her chest, knocking the breath out of her before she managed to punch him off.

‘’They have few men since only that one seal had an actual nin in it, they would have had better shot at taking us out if it was nin instead of weapons.’’ Sarada remarked as Mitsuki was patching her arm up after giving her a general antidote for most poisons, on the off chance that kunai was laced with something.

Boruto looked on at the angry red covering Sarada’s arm, resisting the urge to put a hand on her shoulder as he tried to distract himself by watching Mitsuki clean it.

‘’Sakura-san often remarks that you two would have been one limbed a long time ago if it weren’t for a medic on your team.’’ Mitsuki said.

‘’We’re lucky you turned out to be good at it in the first place, or else I would have have been forced to take the mantle.’’ Sarada said, examining her arm after Mitsuki finished.

Something felt weird, like a prickling sensation at the back of her head, trying to draw her attention to something but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what.

‘’We should continue.’’ Sarada ordered, taking the lead.

.

.

.

‘’Did you read the report Sarada sent?’’ Naruto asked his trusted advisor.

‘’It seems like there are a lot more Uzumakis than we first accounted for.’’ Shikamaru said, his hands running through papers stored into a file marked Uzumaki.

‘’You, Boruto,Himawari, Karin and Queen Ama of the land of diamonds are the only known Uzumaki members.’’ Shikamaru said, closing down the file and putting it on Naruto’s already crowded desk.

‘’I don’t know what this entails, Uzumakis can be dangerous if they are sealing exper-’’ A hawk’s squeal interrupted his speech as he got up to take the letter.

‘’It’s from the village team 7 handed over the nin for, pretty old fashioned still it seems.’’ Naruto remarked while opening the letter,his expression darkening a few seconds later.

‘’What?’’ shikamaru asked.

‘’The nin apparently had died during the night, upon further examination sealing marks were noticed on their chests, blood tests showed that poison had been injected into their bloodstream.’’

Naruto pulled out what seemed like a blood tube from the hawk’s pouch before it flew off, having completed it’s duty.

‘’Get this to Sakura.’’ Naruto ordered.


	5. Rose

‘’The report from Sakura arrived.’’ Shikamaru told Naruto, his hand holding a scroll marked with the konoha hospital symbol tightly, ‘’ she says in her report that a slow acting poison was stored near the heart by a seal,says it’s some kind of suicide seal as to protect from leaking information activated by the apprehended’s chakra, the police that examined them said that the seal was invisible when they first apprehended them.’’

‘’Why slow acting? Wouldn’t it be more effective to use a fast acting one?’’ Naruto said angrily, obviously frustrated that they lost a source of information to poison.

‘’It can be easily removed from the body by the caster of the seal, maybe they wanted to preserve their nin, let’s say they activated them when they woke up, that would give them about five hours till the time of death, they could have had hope that they would have been saved.’’ Shikamaru explained,’’ it also says that the poison is easy to counter once the seal is broken, since it seems to have antidote blocking properties.’’

‘’Send the report to team 7, tell them to knock any nin they capture unconscious, and to make sure they stay like that until they reach interrogation and are stripped of their chakra.’’ Naruto ordered, as Shikamaru walked out of the office.

**.**

**.**

**.**

  
  


_ ‘’For you Sarada-san.’’ _

_ Sarada looked down upon hearing her name at the twelve year old boy she was tasked with guarding, holding his hand out to her, grasping a white rose tightly in his palm, cheeks slightly pink and gaze going from her face to the ground in rapid succession. _

_ ‘Maybe Boruto was right when he said the kid might have a crush.’ Sarada thought,leaning down so she was eye to eye with the brown haired kid. _

_ ‘’Thank you Tenka.’’ she said, taking the rose from his hand, and lightly patting his head in an affectionate way, the same way she used to see her mother do to the kids at the orphanage. _

_ ‘’Don’t I get a rose?’’ Boruto intervened, he and Tensa, the boy’s older brother, just arriving from gathering wood for the fire. _

_ ‘’No.’’ the boy answered bratayley. _

_ ‘’That’s not polite Tenka, mom would be disappointed.’’ Tensa remarked, tone appearing harsh but a barely concealed smile on his face showed that he was amused. _

_ ‘’I’m sorry.’’ the younger boy apologised, his shoulders slumping. _

_ ‘’It’s okay Tenka, flowers are given to pretty people, I ain’t half as pretty as Sarada.’’ Boruto said, tossing Sarada a genuine smile, which she returned, trying her hardest not to blush. _

_ ‘’You’re right.’’  _

_ And then moment was ruined. _

_ ‘’Hey! You weren’t supposed to agree brat, dattebaseh!’’  _

_. _

_. _

_. _

Sarada wasn’t feeling very well, lightheaded and a bit nauseous, the sudden memories the white flowers she spotted only contributed to those feelings.

She reached out and picked one out after looking them over, rolling it gently in her hand, as if inspecting it for faults, but she found none, just like the rose that boy got her that day, just like the red rose she found in her pack the same night.

They all looked perfect.

‘’You don’t look very well.’’ Mitsuki’s voice said from behind her as he got out of their makeshift tent.

‘’I’m fine, just getting a bit under the weather.’’ Sarada responded, getting up, ‘’ you should wake Boruto up, it’s only a couple of hours till we arrive to the village, and both of you read this, it came from the hokage a few minutes ago.’’ she continued, handing Mitsuki the scroll a hawk dropped off earlier.

After that last attack, everything went smoothly, they just had to stop because they needed a break. But Sarada wasn’t satisfied with this calmness, on the contrary, it irked her, a sinking feeling of dread dropping in her stomach.

If ANBU had taught her anything, it was that enemies don’t give up easily when they want something.

‘’We’re ready.’’ Boruto said, running a hand through his hair in a failed attempt to flatten it, handing Sarada the scroll back

‘’Let’s go.’’ she ordered, running ahead of the two boys at top speed.

.

.

.

They were attacked again, this time five shinobi all lunging straight at Sarada, two others keeping Boruto and Mitsuki busy.

‘’You Uzumaki traitor! You don’t deserve to hold our name! We will rid the world of you who tarnish our clan!’’ Sarada heard one of them scream as his sword met Boruto’s, but she was too busy with her own attackers to focus on them.

At first it didn’t seem to hard, she could handle them, knew she could, her teammates knew she could, but when one of those nin landed his opened palm on her chest, a white film of pain racked her body as she was forced to her knees as all she could feel was pain and her chakra rapidly decreasing, as if sucked out.

‘’Sarada!’’

She wasn’t sure who it was that screamed her name, all she could focus on was the diamond necklace, as she held onto it tightly with her hand.

‘’Stubborn brat.’’she heard before the man stomped on her hand, forcibly opening it and grabbing the necklace before a seal activated under him on the ground and he disappeared, both Boruto and Mitsuki’s attackers disappearing with him as both boys ran to her side.

‘’What happened?!’’Boruto frantically asked, as Mitsuki zipped down Sarada’s shirt, revealing a circled seal with the kanji of poison in the middle, right over her heart.

‘’This is what dad told us in the scroll…?’’ Boruto asked, Mitsuki nodding to him as his hands glowed green, running them over Sarada’s heart, trying to extract the poison, but it was like something was blocking it from getting out.

‘’This isn’t going to get us anywhere.’’ he said, leaning away from the panting woman, apparently deep in thought for a moment.

‘’The necklace it can break any seal.’’ Boruto said, already getting ready to summon a hawk to look for the attackers, but Mitsuki interrupted him..

‘’My snake slid into one of the nin’s sleeves, I can trace them by smell.’’ Mitsuki said, another snake crawling from his sleeve.

‘’Let me go, you need to stay with her as the medic.’’ Boruto ordered, extending his arm towards the snake so it would go with him and lead the way. Mitsuki was just about to oblige when Sarada spoke up.

‘’Mitsuki you go.’’ the sputtered out between heavy pants and coughs.

‘’I’m faster!’’

‘’Stealth…’’ she forced out, managing to say just two more words before losing consciousness.’’Captain’s orders.’’

Mitsuki nodded, having understood Sarada’s true intention, which is keep Boruto as far away as she could from those people who have made it a mission to kill him, ’’ take her somewhere hidden, the village is still too far, keep her safe, she has about five hours, her chakra is almost completely drained so she passed out from the shock, try to get her to wake up and stay awake.’’

After that the white 


	6. Failure

_ A blood curdling scream tore through her ears, her whole body tensing as she recognized who the owner of that voice was. _

_ The pure agony heard was enough for her to activate her mangekyo, her father’s warning of blindness be damned, and put the remaining mysterious attackers under a genjutsu so strong that no one without a sharingan can wake them up for at least for a couple of hours. _

_ ‘’Wasn’t that Tensa?’’ Boruto’s frantic voice echoed from the other end of the tunnel, as they had split up to cover more ground, only to meet up in the middle. _

_ ‘’Yeah, I thought it was coming from your side.’’ Sarada said between pants, panic starting to creep up at the prospect of not only losing the two brothers, but also of having something horrible happen to them. _

__

_ ‘’I thought it was from your side too.’’ Boruto said, ‘’ maybe we should cover the grounds agai-’’ he started, but the sound of another scream interrupted him. This time it was clearly from under them. _

_ ‘’Move.’’ Sarada ordered, punching the ground beneath them and jumping through as Boruto followed her. _

_ It was dark, completely dark, the stench of blood filled her nostrils as she looked around, seeing tracks of blood reach deeper into the underground tunnel they smashed through. _

_ ‘’I think they’re deeper into the tunnel.’’ Sarada said, to Boruto, who was looking in his backpack for a lightstick. _

_ ‘’Baka, see why you should tidy up your pack.’’ _

_ ‘’We didn’t have a lot of time dattebaseh.’’ _

_ She was about to retort when she saw a hand holding a kunai about to stab Boruto in his neck, as if it appeared out of nowhere, but she knew it wasn’t there a second ago. _

_ A sharp scream tore through the cave as the man holding the kunai collapsed on the ground, in a flurry of black flames. _

_ ‘’’’I didn’t sense him at all.’’ Boruto admitted, finally lightning his lightstick. _

_ ‘’They’re using weird seals, that’s how they managed to sneak up on us and kidnap them in the first place.’’ Sarada said, looking at the seals on the floor, where the man appeared. _

_ Of course that didn’t take the blame completely off them, they should have been paying attention, but that’s something to think about after the brothers are saved. _

_ ‘’Let’s go, careful though, they know we’re here.’’ _

_ ‘’Of course they know, we just smashed into their hiding place stealth master.’’ Boruto snarked. _

_ ‘’Captain to you, Boruto.’’ _

_ He scoffed, walking behind Sarada his sword in one hand and the other holding the lightning stick, trying his best to pick up on any clue that could point them in the right direction. _

_ ‘’Why would you do that!?’’ Someone yelled from their right, they were sure it was Tensa so they ran towards the sound. _

_ ‘’Tensa!’’ Boruto yelled. _

_ ‘’Don’t come close.’’ a red headed man warned them, holding the younger of the throne heirs by his shoulders, kunai to his neck. _

_ Both Boruto and Sarada stood still, looking around them to see Tensa tied to a chain by the wall, abnormally quiet as he looked towards his crying brother.  _

_ It was then that Sarada noticed that her sharingan was deactivated. _

_ ‘’Some sort of chakra seal around here.’’ she thought, thinking of a way to get all of them out of here, but it seemed like it would be a hard thing to do, as both brothers looked as if in shock. _

_ ‘’What do you want with them?’’ Sarada asked the man. _

_ ‘’That’s none of you Konoha shinobi businesses, just go out and i’ll spare your lives, especially you Uzumaki.’’ The man almost spat out expressions of pure hatred and scorn as he looked at Boruto. _

_ Sarada figured it was one of his dad’s old enemies, and wouldn't be the first time they encountered someone like that. _

_ ‘’You see, I’m the captain of a mission meant to deliver them to the village of diamonds., so it is every bit my business.’’ she said, catching the tremble of Tenka’s lips, she nodded to him, in an attempt to calm him down, but it seemed to be futile. _

_ ‘’Sarada…’’ the boy muttered, trying to say something, but the man’s grip on his kunai tightened. _

_ ‘’We can bargain.’’ Sarada said, growing desperate. With no way to use chakra, they couldn’t do anything, not with the man waiting for the slightest touch. _

_ The man stayed quiet for a few seconds before speaking. _

_ ‘’We’ll spare one of the boys in exchange for the Uzumaki’s head.’’  _

_ The ‘we’ in his sentence sent a bolt of panic through Sarada’s spine. _

_ ‘’Why do you want them dead?’’ _

_ ‘’None of your business. We just do, now pick.’’ _

_ ‘’Both of the brothers for me.’’ Boruto said, taking a step closer, putting a reassuring hand on Sarada’s shoulder as he felt her tense up. _

_ ‘’No.’’ the man immediately answered. _

_ ‘’I am Boruto Uzumaki, you will not be able to catch me easily again.’’ The blond man said, as he continued to get closer to the red headed criminal, masking it as getting closer to hand himself in. _

_ ‘’He’s up to something.’’ Sarada thought, her eyes looking over the lookout one more time,her attention focusing on Tenka’s hand, which was subtly pointing towards the back, where there was a wall. _

_ ‘’Where the seal must be…’ _

_ Sarada focussed her eyes on Tensa, ready to grab him the moment Boruto released the seal. _

_ ‘’Then you should kill Tensa, Tenka is much more valuable as the true heir designated by the previous ruler.’’ Boruto said, reaching and pulling Tenka away from the man, who immediately grabbed on to Tensa, who still appeared to be frozen in shock. _

_ ‘’You Konoha shinobi are always going to be heartless.’’ The man said, almost scornfully as he aligned the kunai to the boy’s throat, ready to plunge it. _

_ But the sound of a kunai hitting a wall and breaking it, thus breaking the seal, had happened in the split second before he could plunge it, as boruto gained his chakra back, grabbing the man’s hand. _

_ ‘’Rasengan!’’ the shining blue ball hit the nin in his chest and he went flying through, as Sarada grabbed onto _

_ Tensa, trying to break the chains. _

_ ‘’Mother…’’ The boy muttered, his voice too shaky to form a coherent sentence. _

_ ‘’It’s okay Tensa, we’ll get you out of here.’’ Sarada reassured, trying her hardest to break the seals holding the chains in place, but it wouldn’t work, it’s a seal that only opens with the users chakra. _

_ ‘’You don’t under-understand…’’ the boy continued. _

_ ‘’Nii-san.’’ Tenka muttered from the other side of the room, apparently looking for something, ‘’ I know how to get you out.’’ _

_ ‘’No Tenka, run, you have to take him and run.’’ _

_ ‘’Calm down, the enemy is dealt with.’’ boruto said, trying to reassure the older boy as he examined the seals holding his chains in place. _

_ ‘’NO! This is way more dangerous than you think, please he can’t die, you have to rescue him! She wants him especially dead!’’ _

_ ‘’What? Who?’’ Sarada interrogated , a sense of dread rising in her gut like never before. _

_ ‘’Tenka will tell you later, just take him and-’’ _

_ ‘’Nii-san!’’ _

_ That was the last thing they heard before the sound of kunai cutting through skin tore through the air, blood splattering wildly from the younger boy’s neck. _

_ ‘’Tenka!’’ the boy yelled, Boruto and Sarada both approaching him and cornering him, their eyes focussed on the glowing golden seals on the ground where the person who cut Tenka’s throat stood before disappearing. _

_ ‘’Watch him!’’ Sarada ordered before running towards the boy, summoning up her limited knowledge of medical ninjutsu and trying to heal the boy. _

_ But it was too late, he lost too much blood, no way they could do a blood transfusion here, that requires a high level of medical expertise. _

_ But she had to try, she never gives up, that’s the promise she made to herself a long time ago. _

_ So she pulled the boy closer to his brother, who curled up into a shaking ball, before cutting the latter’s hand, trying to pull blood by her chakra and transferring it into Tenka. _

_ Just as she managed to pull it out, the blood splattered on the floor as she felt her chakra disappearing. _

_ ‘’Another seal has been put back u-ahh!’’ she groaned, her face being roughly bashed into the ground as Boruto was engaged in a taijutsu battle with the same nin he knocked away earlier. _

_ ‘’Stay still Uchiha.’’ a woman’s voice said.  _

_ Sarada tried to move but she couldn’t move a muscle, she could barely move her head to see the red headed woman wearing a mask raising Tensa from his place on the ground by the collar. _

_ ‘’He was always the brave one...you were cowering while he helped them and attempted to help you.’’ the woman started, ‘’ that’s why he was chosen as heir and not you…’’ _

_ A loud scream preceded the sound of utter silence that followed the sight of Tensa’s body laying on the floor, blood dripping from his chest. _

_ ‘’Tensa…’’’ Sarada muttered, trying to move still but to no avail. _

_ ‘’The chakra seal will wear out in a couple of hours, same as the freezing seal.’’ the woman said, before approaching Boruto, who was stuck against the wall by the same seal as Sarada. _

_ ‘’You’re on our list, along with your father.’’ she said, looking into his eyes, before disappearing into the ground, as if she wasn’t even there, taking her men with her. _

_ ‘’Boruto…’’ Sarada called out, voice cracking at every syllable, trying her best to hold it together, but she gave that up as she heard him whimpering to her left, she couldn’t see him, and he couldn’t see her face, but she was sure he knew she was crying too. _

_ ‘’We failed.’’ he said between whimpers. _

_ Sarada didn’t have an answer, she couldn’t say anything, not now, not even after spending an eternity locked in a room with the dead bodies of their clients,  _

_ No not clients, friends, almost brothers. _

_ They spent two hours laying frozen in the dark chamber, the smell and sight of the dead brothers leaving a scar in their minds as they both gave up on trying to move till the time limit of the seal has passed. _

_ They headed to the nearest village with the intention of reporting their failure, but a bar at the outskirts of said village proved too tempting for the two ninja who failed their mission in the most devastating way imaginable for them. _


	7. Hold on

‘’Where are we?’’

Boruto startled as he heard a raspy voice from behind him, his hand almost flying to his kunai before he registered that that tired raspy voice was Sarada’s.

‘’We’re in the same cave we were at this morning, it’s been like an hour since Mitsuki left.’’ he said, moving to sit beside her, hiding the scroll from his dad in his pouch, after rereading it again and again, hoping that he read it wrong, that it was more than five hours.

‘’Hmm.’’ she hummed, her eyes beginning to close again before Boruto called out to her, but she didn’t answer.

‘’Sarada,Sarada.’’ he said, shaking her a bit, but she just hummed, almost seeming annoyed, as if he was interrupting her from sleeping.

So he did the first thing that struck his mind, which was to throw water from his bottle at her face.

‘’Annoying.’’ he heard her say, finally awake enough to stop humming.

‘’Hey! I just don’t want you to fall into a never ending sleep dattebaseh.’’

‘’How kind.’’ she drawled

‘’Asshole.’’

‘’Did you call me an asshole on my deathbed?’’

‘’This is a cave, and you won’t die here.’’ Boruto objected, trying to hide the tremble in his voice at the mere thought of her being on her deathbed.

She wasn’t on her deathbed , Mitsuki will be here on time, he was sure of it.

_ But will he? _ Boruto thought.

But of course she noticed his doubt, she always did, and of course she was always the one reassuring him.

‘’Don’t worry, Mitsuki always has perfect timing.’’ she said, clear implication to when said white haired man always coincidently, as he said, found them in the most awkward or intimate moments before.

  
  
  


Sarada tried to pull herself up, but it was hard, the poison had already crawled into her organs and muscles, making even the simplest tasks hard. Before she fell back on her back Boruto caught her by the shoulder’s, gently raising her up so she was leaning on the wall, facing him.

‘’How are you feeling?’’

‘’Like my organs are going to fail soon.’’ she said. 

As if on cue, she started coughing, bloody splatters shooting on the ground.

It was in moments like these Boruto regretted not undergoing medic training.

They both stayed quiet after that, both seemingly lost in their own thoughts, Boruto thinking of any way to help, but he couldn’t find anything. So he did what Mitsuki told him to do, keep her awake, and silence isn’t going to keep her awake.

‘’You were calling out their names in your sleep.’’ Boruto finally said, Sarada’s eyes widening just a bit at his admission.

‘’Yeah, been thinking of them ever since we got the mission.’’

‘’You know, I always wondered what you told my dad in the report, about the reason why they could take them in the first place. you’re the captain so the report is classified.’’

It was true, he had been wondering about that a lot, but he never dared ask Sarada, in fear of triggering bad memories for both of them, and asking his father was out of the question.

‘’The truth.’’ Sarada answered, the edge of her lips quirking up a little, as if reminiscing a good memory.

‘’And he didn’t say anything?’’

‘’Just resolved to not put us on any missions alone anymore, that rule stopped when we became jonin, but by that point we had already cut contact.’’

‘’You mean you did.’’ Boruto corrected, in an attempt to make it clear that he did not want for that to happen.

‘’I did, for good reason back then.’’She started, taking a deep breath before continuing,’’ That hurt.’’ she admitted, referring something Boruto knew all too well, ‘’ but now...I understand why you did it.’’

Boruto startled at her admission, thinking that it would take some kind of galant speech to get her to understand his point of view, but there she was, admitting that she could finally see his point of view.

‘’I’m still sorry it happened.’’ He said, watching Sarada wince in pain for the millionth time.

He didn’t know whether this was the right thing to do, but he felt like it was, so he gently held her hand, wrapping his fingers around hers as she looked at their intertwined hands for a moment, before squeezing back.

‘’We never got to continue our talk from back then, from before they got kidnapped…’’ Sarada said, seemingly hesitant to continue her sentence, waiting to see if he wanted to talk about this.

Boruto has thought she had forgotten, somewhere between the disastrous mission and them sleeping with each other the subject never got broached again, but here she was, opening up the subject that plagued his mind daily since it happened.

  
  


_ ‘’That rose was beautiful’’  _

_ Sarada had said from behind him, just back after she was making sure the two brothers were fast asleep in their room of the small cabin the queen had told them to meet her guard in, who didn’t arrive yet. _

_ ‘’Like I said, a beautiful rose for a beautiful girl.’’ he said, almost not believing it came from his own mouth. _

_ ‘’I knew you for eighteen years and you had never called me beautiful, what changed now?’’ Sarada had said, a gentle smile showing him that she wasn’t unreceptive of his compliment. _

_ So after a long time of running away from this, he decided to be courageous. So he stepped closer to her. _

  
  


_ ‘’Actually, I thought you were beautiful since we were...chunin.’’ he admitted, now in front of her, only a footstep between them. _

_ ‘’Chunin? That’s a long time ago…’’ she remarked, trying to act cool, but her blush betraying her,’’Well...I think you’re very handsome too, and… I want to tell you something.’’ _

_ ‘’I want to tell you something too.’’ Boruto said, resolving to just come right out and say it, not able to take the pull between him and Sarada, it was like she was constantly pulling him towards her, and he couldn’t hide it any longer. _

_ ‘’You go first.’’ Sarada said, interrupting Boruto, who surely was about to object, ‘’Captain’s orders.’’ _

_ ‘’Not fair, dattebaseh.’’ _

_ ‘’Life’s unfair.’’ Sarada countered, cheeky smile mirroring Boruto’s, who took a deep breath and prepared to finally say it. _

_ ‘’I...I think that I love you…’’ He finally admitted, looking at her intently to gauge a reaction. First he detected surprise, evident by her tensing form and widened eyes, but then a wide smile appeared on her face, a smile he so rarely saw, often reserved for her parents. _

_ ‘’What’re you smiling about?’’ he asked, trying not to get nervous, not knowing what to expect. _

_ ‘’I just feel the same way towards you.’’ Sarada admitted, taking a step closer so they were face to face. _

_ ‘’Ohh.’’ _

_ He wanted to punch himself at the lame response, but he didn’t know what to say, but she was standing close, looking up at him, so it was obvious what she wanted him to do. _

_ ‘’Love is in the air, how sweet.’’ a voice from their left startled them and the sound of kunai tearing through the air struck them out of their trance. _

_ The man was easily dealt with between Sarada’s sharingan and Boruto’s shadow clones. _

_ But as soon as they defeated him they ran towards the two brother’s room, only to see that they had disappeared. _

.

.

.

‘’Did you mean it back then?’’ Sarada asked.

‘’Of course I meant it Sarada, I still mean it.’’

Sarada stayed quiet for a few seconds, staring blankly anywhere but his eyes.

‘’We should have talked about this much earlier.’’ she admitted,’’ but between the mission and it’s repercussions, after what we did that night, it just felt…’’

‘’Like a step backwards?’’ Boruto continued for her, knowing full well the dilemma of it, because he experienced it in the short period when they slept together, if he should bring that conversation up again, or it would be pointless because they were past that point.

‘’Yes.’’ she said, her glassy eyes finally meeting his, and then it was clear what she wanted to say.

_ It might be too late now… _

He refused to believe that, refused to believe that someone who has been a constant in his life since he was one month old would just disappear.

Mitsuki’s gonna make it, he will, he has to.

‘’Mitsuki will make it, and we will cure you, then we’ll beat that creepy woman’s ass off, and when we get back safe and sound to the village, cause we will, you will certainly, we’ll have this conversation...on one condition.’’

‘’What?’’ Sarada asked, recognizing the silly smile on Boruto face as the expression he wore when he was about to say something especially silly.

‘’You have to be the one who tells your dad that we’ve been hooking up, and are going to still be hooking up.’’

‘’You want me to tell dad that we’ve been hooking up? Boruto this is the guy that called me peanut, I’m sure as hell he doesn’t even know what hookin’ up means.’’

‘’Then i don’t know what Sarada but i ain’t ready to have to explain to him how we’ve been doing the ‘’do’’ behind everyone’s backs.’’

“Isnt that supposed to be your job? I think he’ll appreciate it more if the boy who’s been fucking his only daughter coming up to him upfront”

‘’Fucking? That’s crude.’’

‘’In contrast to hooking up?’’

‘’Doesn’t make a difference anyways, I’m dead either way and you’ll stay forever single in mourning of your one true love.’’

‘’Who said I’ll be single forever?’’

‘’Well who else could there be?’’

‘’Chocho told me that shikadai told her that shinki has a thing for me.’’

‘’What!?’’

‘’Exactly my reaction.’’

“Wow Sarada.’’ Boruto said between chuckles, the mere thought of Shinki actually liking someone too strange to be believed.

The tremble racking Sarada’s body killed the lighthearted vibe they had just a moment ago, being violently reminded of the reality of the situation.

‘’Hey.’’ Boruto said, to get her attention, squeezing her shoulders in reassurance.

‘’Can you ho-hold me?’’ she stammered out.

He wanted to object because her body was heating up,but he put his arm around her shoulder, still some distance between them in compromise, as he didn’t know if she was trembling from the cold or from the pain.

‘’Three hours Sarada, just hold on, you can hold on, you can hold on...’ Boruto repeated, more to himself than to her.


	8. Forever

As she laid her head on his shoulder for what seemed like forever now, she couldn’t help but feel like she missed his warmth. That admission alone led her down a path of remembering other touches, more intimate ones, more pleasurable ones, the type of touches that wouldn’t end till they were both writhing messes.

Even a mere couple of hours before her uncertain death, all she could think of was him, which was nothing strange.

He plagued her mind day and night for a long time now, ever since they were sixteen.

‘’Aren’t you supposed to keep me awake? Letting me lay on your shoulder isn’t the way to do that.’’ Sarada said lazily, barely able to open her eyes at this point.

‘’I’ve got my eye on you, I won’t let you fall asleep.’’

‘’You’ve got your eye on me while I’m half asleep? That’s pretty creepy even for your standards.’’

‘’Shut up, you know what I mean.’’ Boruto replied, crossing his arms and pursing his lips in the way she was used to seeing since they were children. 

Suddenly she felt an urge to kiss him, in the same unexpected way that started all this, but she didn’t, partially because she wasn’t sure if this poison can be transmitted orally or not, but mostly because she swore not to do anything like that on a mission ever again.

“Plus, I do have standards and she’s quite a lovely woman” Boruto continued, shooting Sarada an arrogant smirk.

‘’Lucky girl.’’ Sarada replied,sarcasm dripping from her lazy voice, trying to appear like she didn’t care, but she recalled something that she was curious about ever since she heard that little bit of gossip‘’ Hey, is it true that you and Tara hooked up?’’

She felt Boruto’s shoulder move as he moved to look at her, shooting her a puzzled stare.

‘’How did you know?’’

‘’I was ANBU Boruto, we know everything.’’

‘’Huh, why do you care?’’ 

‘’Just want to know if you gave my friend any diseases…’’

‘’Asshole.’’

‘’Learned from the best.’’

Boruto chuckled at that, trying his best to keep the mood lighthearted, but the frequent moans of pain made that hard even for him.

_ Come on Mitsuki…  _ Boruto thought, his grasp on Sarada’s shoulder tightening, his eyes scanning her face, committing to memory every detail, eyes scanning her half lidded black eyes, still burning with a fire his own father had instilled, nose crackling in pain, and finally pale lips pursing together to hide grinding teeth.

He remembers when he could taste alcohol on those lips, when his only care was to indulge in the woman he wanted for so long after a catastrophic mission.

.

.

.

_ They were fourteen when he first thought of what kissing his teammate might be like, it was just a wandering thought at the time, spurred on by his friends remarking that Sarada is one of the prettiest girls in their class. _

_ At that point, he agreed, and that wasn’t the last time he thought of it. It was the first of many, many days where he would imagine the softness of her lips, and many other nights where he would try his hardest to keep his mind from wandering beyond the kissing part.  _

_ But then here she was, six years later, their lips finally meeting, not in the gentle romantic way he imagined it, but it was full of passion accompanied by a desperate sensation he never felt before. _

_ It was gnawing at him from the inside, making the burning in his pants much more unbearable.  _

_ By the way her fingers were pulling at his hair, alcohol flavored lips moving aggressively against his, leg rubbing against his own, nearing a dangerous place, he concluded that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. _

_ She was the first to pull away, her whole body racking with a pleasant sensation as she leaned on him, her lust filled eyes staring intensely at his. _

_ ‘’Are you sure you want this?’’ Boruto asked, his hand tightening on her waist. _

_ ‘’Yeah, I do.’’ she answered, not a beat later, her left hand wrapping around his, fingers tangling in his for a few seconds before she raised their joined hands up under her shirt, his fingers grazing the warm skin, sending trembles of quiet anticipation down his spine, till his fingers met her soft mounds. _

_ He would be lying to say that he wasn’t disappointed, he expected his first time with Sarada to be romantic, in their home, where he could have treated her to what she deserves, but as his hands squeezed her nipples, hearing her breath hitch in her throat, he didn’t care that they were in a run down inn at the border of the land of lightning, he didn’t care about anything other than the woman in front of him, as he slowly backed her away towards the bed of the modest room they got. _

_ Their lips met again as he laid her down, lips moving in a fast steady rhythm that made him almost dizzy as he felt her hands tugging at his shirt. He pulled away to get his shirt off, not able to help the arrogant smirk when he saw Sarada’s eyes look him up and down. _

_ ‘’You like?’’ Boruto asked, his lips lighting a trail of fire across Sarada’s neck, making her squirm between his arms. _

_ ‘’Shut it.’’she replied, her own hands travelling across his chest, fingers touching every inch, determined to drive him crazy with need. _

_ But he knew it wasn’t that, knew that on the inside, what she wasn’t showing, she was the same as him, doing all this to bury the feeling of utter despair they still felt. _

_ He wanted to forget, even for just a few minutes, and he wanted to make her forget, he wanted to make her squirm under him, to hear the need in her voice instead of the sadness he heard before. _

_ Which is why he made quick work of her shirt, his mouth finding its place on her hot nipples, feeling them harden between his lips as his hands roamed over her thighs and ass, the feeling of his clothed hard on rubbing against her sending jolting bolts of pleasure through his body. _

_ ‘’Boruto.’’ she muttered, her back arching to meet his mouth as he trailed kisses down her stomach, his hands never leaving her breasts except to catch the hem of her pants, tugging them down in one pull to be greeted with the sight of her legs. _

_ ‘’Now who’s liking what they see?’’ Sarada said teasingly, raising herself up so she could grab his belt, tugging him towards her before unclasping it, unbearably slowly for Boruto’s liking. _

_ ‘’You’re beautiful.’’ Boruto rasped in Sarada’s ear in a way that made her very aware of the wetness between her thighs, as his teeth gently bit down on her earlobe, sucking on it as his hips thrust into her hand, his still clothed cock aching. _

_ ‘’I want you.’’ Boruto continued whispering in her ear, his mouth leaving marks around her neck in a way that strangely made him proud, but that was nothing by comparison to the pride he felt when she moaned the moment his finger met her clit. _

_ ‘’You’re so wet.’’ he remarked, his mouth swallowing her moans as he kissed her again, not being able to get enough of her. Her taste, her touch, her warmth, everything. _

_ ‘’I need you.’’ he said, as he felt her hand grasping his member, thrusting him in quick succession as he couldn’t help but move his hips to meet her movements. _

_ ‘’Then prove it.’’ Sarada muttered, letting go of his twitching cock and lying on her back. _

_ It was then that Boruto remembered that this was probably her first time too. He distracted himself for feeling guilty over his wasted romantic plans for them, by pulling out a condom from his pack. _

_ ‘’Iwabe insists that I should carry condoms on our missions , in case he ‘runs out’’’ Boruto answered Sarada unspoken question as she rolled her eyes in reply, making her disapproval of Iwabe’s reputation all the more clear. _

_ ‘’Are you sure you want this?’’ Boruto asked, aligning his dick to her entrance. _

_ Sarada nodded, and that was all Boruto needed before he entered her. _

_ It wasn’t long before they both got lost in each other’s embrace, pleasure mounting with each movement, each thrust, each touch, each kiss. It felt like they were burning with passion and pure need. _

_ The need to untangle that tightness they both felt,the same need that has been festering since a long time ago. At that point, they wanted nothing more than to get lost in the pleasure and to forget the screams that kept on repeating in their heads. _

_ ‘’Boruto.’’ Sarada moaned out his name after his fingers found their way back to her clit, rapidly flicking the ball of nerves to drive her over the edge the way she was doing to him as her walls kept tightening around his member and he felt he was going to explode from the pure bliss that followed, her moans spurring him on as she came upon her own release. _

_ A few minutes later, as he lay in her arms, the final traces of those few moments of pleasure and relief fell apart and all the feelings from before came flooding in. _

_ He wasn’t sure who started, but both cried into each other’s arms that night, racked by guilt and the all too familiar feeling of despair, screams of agony repeating in their heads. _

_. _

_. _

_. _

_ ‘ _ ’Am I interrupting something?’’ Mitsuki’s calm voice woke him up from his memory, Sarada only mustering rough energy to look at him from her side.

‘’Did you get it?!’’ Boruto yelled.

‘’Would I have been back if I hadn’t?’’ Mitsuki replied, getting the necklace from his pocket and getting closer to Sarada, putting a handful of herbs in front of him, ‘’ Got here just in time, her organs would have started to fail one by one in a few minutes, Boruto, guard him while I work.’’ 

Boruto was confused as to who Mitsuki was referring to until he looked to the side to see an unconscious nin.

So Boruto did as he was told, his eyes quietly scanning Mitsuki while he tied the necklace around Sarada’s neck, which immediately gave off a faint glow as the white haired boy mashed the herbs together, creating a weird liquidy substance, before forcing a semi unconscious Sarada to swallow it.

‘’She needs to rest, but the seal disappeared and her organs are returning to their normal functions.’’ Mitsuki clarified, his usual smile appearing instead of the previous serious expression.

Boruto let out a sigh of relief, he knew it, he knew she wasn’t going to die, he still had time, time to tell her everything he felt, to tell her what he wanted from her, what he wanted them to be.

It took her being on the verge of death for him to realise it, to finally realise that he could not live without her, that he wanted her by his side forever.


	9. Finally

When Sarada came back to consciousness, she was vomiting.

‘’Fuck.’’ she muttered, looking to her side to find Boruto holding back her hair, with Mitsuki by his side, holding a bottle of water.

‘’That’s good, that should be the last of poison out of your body.’’ Mitsuki said, handing her the bottle, which she happily took, feeling like her throat grew needles.

‘’What happened with you?’’ she immediately asked after gulping down the bottle, quick to resume her captaincy duties.

‘’I did what the hokage ordered.’’ Mitsuki said, gesturing to the man squirming against his bindings near the edge of the cave, mouth stuffed with a band, he was the man guarding the diamond necklace only a two hour distance from where we were, I disposed of the other guards and brought him back for interrogation after giving him a chakra blocker pill.’’

‘’We were waiting for you to be well, to get orders on what to do next.’’ Boruto said, watching as Sarada nodded and attempted to stand up, not missing the small hiss of pain she let out when she attempted to stand up without support, so he attempted to help her by leaning down so she could lean on him, but a firm hand on his chest stopped him.

‘’I’ll be fine Boruto.’’ she said, her hand lingering just a bit longer than it had to as Boruto nodded, faint blush appearing on his cheeks.

Sarada walked towards the nin, Mitsuki and Boruto following her closely, Boruto ready to catch her in case she lost her balance.

He knew she wouldn’t though, she would never appear weak in front of an enemy, not when she was glaring at them with full might of her mangekyo.

‘’You are going to tell us what the hell is happening.’’ Sarada barked out, roughly taking the band off the nin’s mouth.

‘’Brat! You know how many eyes like those my clan has sealed away.’’ the man said scornfully, though his eyes weren’t solely on Sarada, as his glare travelled from her towards Boruto.

‘’I’ll throw in a good word for you to our master if you help me out, might help you evade execution.’’

‘’Who is your master?’’ Boruto asked, not able to hold himself at the cheer audacity of this man asking him to betray his teammates for this unknown master that apparently wants to kill him.

‘’Only the worthy will meet her.’’

‘’Do you know how many scum I tortured out of their minds with these eyes?’’ Sarada’s dark tone interrupted their conversation, immediately getting the attention of the man.

‘’You Konoha shinobi are known to be soft.’’ the man said arrogantly.

‘’Konoha shinobi yes, Konoha ANBU not so much.’’

‘’Sam-’’ the man’s words were interrupted by a sharp scream coming from his own mouth.

When they were mere genin, Boruto never imagined that Sarada’s talent for genjutsu will be used like this,that his kind hearted friend would do this, but his father was right, ANBU can change even the ones with the purest hearts to monsters.

The man seemed to recoil, taking sharp breaths as he looked around in shock.

‘’You ready to talk?’’ Sarada asked, her hands tightly grasping the man by his collar.

The man didn’t answer, but when the tomoes in Sarada’s eyes started spinning again he nodded his head frantically.

‘’I’ll tell you everything.’’

.

.

.

A day later, when the hokage was fully notified of the latest progressions, and Sarada is back to normal, they embark on their way to the village again, red jewel necklace still around Sarada’s neck.

Boruto couldn’t wait for this missio to be over already, too mentally and emotionally exhausted from it, past and present.

Nonetheless, he was happy, happy that they will finally take justice for Tensa and Tenka, that they finally understood what exactly happened in that underground dungeon.

As expected it didn’t take them long to arrive, being greeted fondly by the guards of the village who led them straight to the castle of the queen herself.

The king of the village had passed away due to a strange illness three years ago, leaving behind two boys, the younger of which was set to take the throne as the other was set to be his advisor, as per tradition.

But now the queen ruled the land, with no heir present she was set for many years to come till a suitable person turned up, the older brother of the king still taking the place as her advisor.

‘’I am truly honored that you would go to such lengths to give us back our village treasures, especially since it is one of my husbands fondest treasures.’’ the queen spoke to them the moment they stepped in front of her, Sarada one step in front of the two men as captain, holding the necklace in her hand tightly.

Next to the queen’s chair, stood a tall man with a strong build, sharp eyes analysing them thoroughly before he nodded to Sarada.

‘’We owe it to your village, after what happened in the latest mission concerning it.’’ Sarada replied.

‘’We will be forever thankful for your efforts, and I assure you that we will catch the offenders that caused you so much trouble and that dared to attempt to steal my son’s necklace.’’ The queen said, standing up from her chair and extending her hand towards Sarada.

Sarada walked towards her, extending the hand holding the necklace towards the queen, handing her the shining red jewel and backing away.

‘’You shall follow my advisor to collect your payment.’’

‘’No need.’’ Mitsuki’s voice sounded from behind her, his snakes quickly wrapping around the queen, inhibiting any further movement as the jewel in her hand poofed into a cloud of smoke.

‘’As captain of troop 7 of Konohagakure, I declare that you, queen Ame Uzumaki, are under arrest for treason of a sister village, and organising a crime gang, and assasination threats and attempts on Konoha Shinobi under permission of the next in line of authority in said village.’’ Sarada declared, signature arrogant smirk taking its place on her face.

‘’What is the meaning of this Subaru!?’’ The queen screamed at her advisor.

‘’To find out that you were the one behind my brother’s death, murdering your own sons for clan purity, intentions of turning this village into a village ruled by Uzumakis, hiding your scum under this very castle in underground tunnels…’’ the man, Subaru, said, deep disappointment and sadness in his voice, clouded by a bigger emotion as rage practically dripped from him.

‘’That’s nonsense!’’

‘’As admitted by your own men, once consciously and once under a genjutsu as the report written by captain Sarada and signed by the hokage reported, it arrived to me late last night.

‘’Take her away please.’’The man said, interrupting whatever the redheaded woman was about to say.

‘’Let's hand her over to the cloud nins that came as reinforcements, they must have finished cleaning up those tunnels.’’ Sarada ordered, bowing before the new king of the village, extending her hand towards the man with intention of giving him the necklace, but was surprised when he didn’t take it.

‘’This is your reward for exposing her, if it weren’t for you risking your life with this mission, I wouldn't have knew and god knows what would have happened to the people of this village.’’ He said, before turning and walking away.

Sarada stared at his back for a moment, before reaching behind her neck and tiying the necklace around her neck again,different thoughts and emotions rushing through her mind but she buried them for later, after the mission.

‘’Let’s go get this mission over with.’’ Sarada ordered, looking at Boruto, who nodded, getting the untold words in her eyes.

_ We’ll finally finish it. _


	10. A unique gesture

The trip back to Konoha was grueling, not just because of the physical pressure they had put themselves under, but the emotional baggage carried on from before only added to the stress.

But it was all over now, they got justice for them, they finally caught who was responsible for that tragedy.

_ To think it was their own mother… _ Sarada thought along the way, her hands clenching instinctively at the horror of that fact, that mothers were ready to kill their own children for the clan.

Yet again, her own uncle was ready to kill his own clan for his village, her father was the opposite at some point. At those thoughts Sarada concluded that she was lucky not to find this out back then, back when she didn’t know the truth about her clan, about her father and about the village, she would not have understood the real problem, which is that some people still think of the clan instead of the person and the greater good.

_ I will abolish that type of thinking.  _ Sarada swore to herself.

But first she had to report to the hokage, he should be in his office at this time.

‘’You guys go rest, I’ll report to the hokage.’’ Sarada said upon arriving at the gates. But before she could head out, Boruto’s hand on her shoulder stopped her. She turned around and their eyes met and it was like time froze over.

She hated to admit it, but she missed his gaze, his deep blue eyes staring straight into her soul, understanding every emotion and thought in the blink of an eye.

‘’I’ll come to you as soon as I can.’’ Sarada said, and not being able to stop herself, she put her hand on top of Boruto’s for one second before heading off.

To think that that simple touch made the hair on her arms stand up.

_ Hokage, report, report. _ Sarada repeated in her head.

.

.

.

  
  
  


She meant to get here in the evening, but after her mother’s pestering about doing an examination, thanks to the hokage ordering her to tell her mother about the poisoning ,then taking an extra long shower cause the hot water felt like heaven on her sore muscles and then going to sleep for what was supposed to be a nap before she went to Boruto,but she massively overslept and it was the middle of the night when she woke up.

She thought of just going back to sleep and go to him tomorrow morning, but she couldn’t wait any longer, and from the look he gave her earlier that day, he seemed impatient, so he was probably a few minutes away from bursting through her window.

So as she put on her sandals, she decided to leave her weapon pouch, opting to go full civilian with her red shirt and black skirt, grabbing a black hoodie, which actually belonged to him, in case she got cold.

It took her 15 mins to get to his apartment, which she has never been to before, since he was still living with his parents back when they were regularly visiting each other.

Sarada was about to knock when the door flew open, revealing a smiling Boruto clad in a white shirt and black sweatpants.

‘’I was waiting for you.’’ he admitted, moving away to let her in.

‘’Sorry, I just overslept, and mom kept pestering me about the poison and you know how she gets.’’ Sarada said, looking around the room, which had a joint kitchen and living room, her eyes immediately lying on the dark pink couch.

‘’It came with the apartment.’’ Boruto said upon noticing her smile.

‘’Sure.’’ she replied, sitting on the edge of it, surprised that it was actually comfortable.

They waited a couple of minutes in silence as the tea brewed, Sarada wasn’t sure if he is making tea to waste time or because he was being courteous, but she didn’t comment on it, waiting till he deposited a cup of tea in front of her, sitting on the other edge of the couch, cross legged so he was facing her as they both avoided looking at the other.

‘’I’m sorry.’’ they said in unison, their eyes finally meeting in confusion.

‘’You go first.’’ Sarada said.

‘’Sure captain.’’ Boruto said, attempting to add humor to the situation Sarada guessed, which worked, cause albeit her efforts, her lip quirked upwards at the old joke.

‘’I should have never betrayed your trust, not for your father, not for the village, not for anything.’’ Boruto admitted, his eyes scanning her face for any reaction.

Sarada was surprised he acknowledged his mistake to this extent, as the part about the village could have been argued, but she was satisfied nonetheless.

‘’I’m sorry for giving you such a hard time, you were wrong with what you did, but you didn’t deserve the treatment you got, I should have understood your circumstances, which I do now.’’

Boruto simply nodded before speaking again, ‘’ So we’re friends again?’’

Sarada took a deep breath, resolving that it was now or never.

‘’I think we both know that we passed that point since that day Boruto.’’ Sarada said, referring to what happened before that mission that changed everything, even if they failed to act on it clearly, she knew that it plagued his mind as much as it did hers.

Boruto simply nodded, scooting closer on the couch so he was next to the black haired woman.

‘’You’re right.’’ he admitted.

After that silence overtook them again until Boruto broke it.

‘’I think we deserve something stronger than tea in celebration for completing the mission.’’ Boruto said, standing up excitingly and heading towards the cupboards, grabbing a bottle of champagne.

‘’You keep a bottle of champagne laying around?’’ Sarada asked, watching as he popped the lid open and poured it into two glasses.

‘’Well we can’t all hide whiskey under the wooden boards of our rooms in fear of a certain grumpy man throwing it away.’’ Boruto snarked, taking an obvious dig at her father.

‘’Shut up.’’ Sarada replied, giggling a bit as he handed her her glass, immediately noticing the ease he was acting around her, it was enough to prove how relieved he is from their talk.

Sarada was at a loss of words, she even forgot what to talk with Boruto, so she tried recalling what they used to do together, other than sleep together, they used to talk about everything.

One particular subject sprung to mind.

‘’You know, when I was on my way home from the hokage’s office, I’m pretty sure I saw Mitsuki and ChoCho sitting together at thunderburger.’’ 

‘’I knew it! He was hiding something, he told me he was going straight home which was weird cause he normally takes the same way i do when he goes home from missions dattebaseh.’’

‘’So you think they’re dating?’’ 

‘’Chocho and Mitsuki, to think Mitsuki is actually having a secret relationship...from  _ me of all people.’’ _ Boruto said, feigning betrayal, complete with a dramatic hand over the heart.

But he couldn’t hold the look of sadness as a smile overtook him at the sound of Sarada’s laughing.

‘’I’ll grill ChoCho about this soon, last time our girl talk was interrupted by a mission hawk.’’

‘’You do that while I take Mitsuki to a manly hang.’’

‘’Like the hang you did when you picked up this couch.’’

‘’ _ Like the hang you did when you picked up this couch’’  _ Boruto mocked, falling over the couch when Sarada pushed him by the shoulder.

After that their night continued on the same note, fooling around and talking about everything and nothing.

At one point their fingers intertwined, shyly at first, as if unsure, before she gave him a reassuring squeeze.

‘’I think I should go, mom’s going to get worried if she doesn’t do her morning check up.’’ Sarada said, standing up, Boruto standing up with her rather than letting go of her hand.

‘’Didn’t Mitsuki say that you were completely fine now?’’

‘’He did, but mom is mom I guess.’’ she said, pulling him towards the door.

When her hand rested on the door knob, she felt him tug on her hand which prompted her to turn around and look at him, their eyes meeting and that irresistible pull took its effect again.

‘’I just want to make one thing clear.’’Boruto started, raising her hand so that he was caressing it, taking her other hand with his and doing the same, ‘’ What was between us, it was never meaningless sex Sarada...I truly believe that what I feel for you is the real deal.’’

‘’The real deal as in…?’’ Sarada asked, pushing her hand towards his chest, right over his heart, feeling an overwhelming urge to sense him in every meaning of the word.

‘’Sarada Uchiha, I love you.’’ Boruto admitted finally for the second time in his life, his hand moving to lay on top of Sarada’s, making sure she could feel how fast his heart was beating.

Sarada couldn’t talk, not finding any words to express what she felt, how deep and intense it was, it was then that she understood what her mother meant when she said that there is something better than a kiss.

So in one quick motion, she poked his forehead.

If this situation wasn’t so serious, if she wasn’t the one caught up in this, she would have found the confused expression on his face funny.

‘’Is that an I love you too?’’ Boruto asked, amused tone in his voice as his hand touched the place her fingers were.

‘’It’s much, much more Boruto.’’ Sarada confided, her eyes never leaving his as he stepped forward, backing her into the door.

She loved this man, took her a long time to realise it, but she finally did, finally realised that she fell in love with her childhood friend.

So she leaned up on her tiptoes, effectively closing the distance between them as her lips met his forehead, then his cheeks, above the whiskers she always thought are cute, then after meeting his eye for the final time, she met her lips with his in a gentle kiss, in what must have been the gentlest kiss they’ve shared, one full of the same passion but also with tender love.

‘’That was nice.’’ Boruto remarked when she pulled away to catch a breath, hir hands still caressing her face as she felt intoxicated by his touch.

‘’Do you want to take it slow or…?’’ Sarada asked, not wanting to rush into anything, not wanting to risk what they have here, what they finally managed to say and build.

‘’I want you.’’ Boruto admitted, the compassion in his blue eyes getting mixed with lust as he kissed her again, this time with more fervour and passion, as if determined to knock the breath out of her.

It didn’t take long before Sarada moved her lips against his with the same fervor, the groan he emitted when her tongue snacked into his mouth only stringing her on even more as he pushed her against the door.

They didn’t break away until they couldn’t breathe anymore, she laid her head on the door behind her, feeling almost too dizzy to feel steady albeit the still present feeling of his hands on her waist.

‘’I missed this.’’ Sarada admitted. Boruto’s smirk at her admission causing her to blush.

‘’I’m the best you’ve ever had huh?’’ Boruto playfully asked, attempting to sneak his hands inside her shirt without her noticing.

‘’I’m not ruining this moment.’’ Sarada said, giggling at the annoyed expression he gave her.

He was about to argue when she pushed her lips against his another time, catching his hands and pushing him backwards till his legs hit the edge of the couch and he was forced to sit down as she straddled his lap, her hands making quick work of his shirt.

She felt his hands snake up her shirt once more, sending chills up her spine, till she couldn’t help but moan into the kiss when his fingers pinched her nipples.

‘’You like that?’’ he asked seductively, pulling away to zip down her shirt, throwing it and her bra away to the side, taking a moment to look at her.

‘’What? You miss this sight?’’ she asked, shooting him her signature cocky smirk which amused him on a normal day. But today it set him on fire.

‘’I do.’’ he answered, startling her as she didn’t expect he answer like that, but whatever snarky reply she had prepared had been forgotten as his lips assaulted her neck, his hands moving everywhere, sending so many good sensations across her body she couldn’t focus on any of it as her hands grappled on his blond hair.

He wanted her entirely, to kiss and touch every single inch of skin and to drive her mad with need just like what she has always done to him.

Which is why he roughly took Sarada’s skirt off, mouth going downwards from her neck to her breasts, taking special care to pecker the underside of them just the way he knew makes her lose her mind. Afterwards his mouth went down again. His rough hands steadying her as she arched her back, his hand running over the lean muscle that covered her upper body. Her heat rubbed against his pants, instinctively causing him to jerk up.

‘’I need you.’’ He muttered before sucking on her hardened nipple, eliciting another moan from her.

He was so focussed on his task he didn’t notice one of her hands had left his hair until he felt it in his pants, her other hand unbuckling his pants and pushing it down to free his cock as the sudden friction caused Boruto to stop his ministrations as he crashed his mouth on hers, hips jerking into her hand frantically.

He smirked when she groaned into the kiss, his hand having snuck between them, pushing two fingers straight into her wetness.

‘’You’re so wet…’’ he drawled into her ear, his thumb kneading her clit as moans rolled down her tongue.

‘’And you’re so hard.’’ Sarada said breathlessly, smirking to herself when she felt his cock twitch in her hand.

‘’Don’t tease me Sarada.’’ Boruto warned, his pace quickening, pushing in and out of her pussy faster and harder, his thumb still rubbing roughly the ball of nerves he knew for a fact made Sarada weak in the knees.

Boruto knew her body like the back of his hand, knew when she was close, knew that when her hand tightens on his hair, when her hips move to match his movements, and when she can barely form coherent words, knew that that means that she is dangerously close.

‘’What do you want Sarada?’’ he asked, when she didn’t answer, he slowed down.

‘’Fuck... I want you... I want you... to keep going... now!’’

‘’My pleasure.’’ he said as he got back to his pace, his cock twitching at the sight of her breathless body moving along with his hand, moans getting louder and louder until her whole body trembled.

‘’Still not the best?’’

‘’Shut up.’’ Sarada spat, catching his cock again and aligning it with her entrance

Boruto let out a low groan the moment his member slipped into her tight folds, the sight of her grinding on him, only causing him to be more frantic with his thrusts.

The heat he felt was unbearable, a coil that needed to untangle as he felt his release creep in on him, but he didn’t want it now, no, he wanted her to lose her mind in front of him first.

So he rapidly switched their positions so he was on top, his hand finding its place on her clit as he rubbed it quickly to match the rhythm of his thrusts

‘’Boruto!’’ she cried out, her back arching and whole body writhing under him, desperate to attain the release she craved all this time. 

Some moments later Sarada let out inaudible whimpers, her body stiffening against his as spasms tore through her body and sharp moans filled his ears before his own release took him. Both falling into their orgasm haze as he completely collapsed against her, still reeling from the sensation of her walls tightening on his dick.

He pulled away, collapsing on his side , his blue orbs meeting her black ones.

Her hands caressed his face, playing with his whiskers in the way it annoyed him, but he couldn’t find it in him to tell her to stop as she kept peering into his soul, before leaning down and placing a short soft kiss to his lips, a type of kiss he had never received from her except for today.

So he reached and did the same thing she did to him before, gently poke her forehead, although he didn’t fully understand the implication of the gesture, he saw the way she smiled when he gave it to her, a smile that can light up his whole world, a smile that has been lighting up his world for years now.

And that was enough for him.


End file.
